Blog 01: The future of Martin Kampmann

Martin 'The Hitman' Kampmann was at one time set for a #1 contender match up with MW beast Rich Franklin, which many had picked him as a potential upset. We are around 8 months later, a blown out knee, a couple Anderson Silva KOs, and now an awful MW division, does it make sense that Martin Kampmann could potenially see himself as the #1 contender in the near future?

The list of contenders is weak and dry at 185 these days in the MW division. Dana White has named David Terrel, Thales Leites, Yushin Okami and Dan Henderson as possible sutors for Anderson Silva, the ladder recently granted the title shot at UFC82. David Terrel recently pulled out of his fight with Ed Herman, and Thales Leites is set to face Pancrase champ Nate Marquardt. How can I argue with Henderson getting the title shot? Really, I can't. He's KO'd W. Silva, taken Rampage Jackson to a decision, and has held two Pride belts at the same time. Terrel and Leites on the other hand.. Terrel has not had a match in the UFC in a long long time. He's had a title shot, which he got manhandled, and can't move without breaking a nail. The argument is not to hard with Thales, as Kampmann holds a dominate win over him at TUF4 finale. Yushin is a plausible contender as he holds a win over Silva.

In my humble opinion, upon Kampmanns return in the spring of 2008 he has got to be one impressive performance away from the title fight we all want to see, the two most technical strikers in this division. I think when he returns he should either fight Yushin Okami or the winner of Thales Leites/Marquardt.

My proposed scenario would have:

Henderson/Silva title fight at UFC 82
Marquardt/Leites fight to get into title contention

Okami faces the winner of Henderson/Silva for the title around 86-87 (easily hyped if Silva is champion.)

Kampmann faces Marquardt/Leites winner for shot at the title in the 90-91 range

Hard to predict this division with Franklin and Henderson though, but I wanted to put some of my recent thoughts down for this division.

Next blog I'll probably write on Gonzaga and where he stands in the heavyweight picture.

The MW division, while sort of bare, does have a couple of guys who could be solid contenders.

Kampmann & Leites.

Kampmann is well-rounded and has a good chin.

Leites has great jitz & top positioning.

Both guys need more fights, sure, but out of all the other MW's, these 2 seem like they could be future contenders. Okami, too, since he's been looking really solid in the UFC so far. He just needs to fight like he does in the third, in the first.

Thales Leites was in terrible shape for that fight and I think he is better than Kampmann. I have never been overly impressed by him and I think Rich, Marquardt, Okami,would all beat him. We will see though. Good blog idea though, going over where fighters stand, I am looking forward to the Gonzaga one.

Leites really was in terrible shape. Totally pathetic performance from someone who is really talented. Oh well, he's back and better than ever, let's hope he becomes a solid contender, which I think will happen.